Monday, May 4 -  Christina Johnson

I have been reflecting quite a bit recently on how much and how quickly things have changed in the past month or so. As a college senior, I have experienced a whirlwind of change lately, as I am sure each person can relate to on some level. Personally, I was kicked out of my apartment, said good-bye to my friends and had so many ‘lasts’ and ‘good-byes’ stripped away from me. The lasts that I did have were unknown to me as lasts at the time, which gives them even more of a sting now. Each person and each family have their own set of changes, losses, grievances and questions.  

One thing I know has not changed is God and the love and grace God offers us each and every day, even in the midst of a pandemic. Pastor Lauren encouraged us on Sunday, April 26 to look for ways in which the Holy Spirit is showing up in unexpected ways, in ways outside the temple, outside of church. We have adapted and learned to see where God is moving in the world in places we forgot to look before this all started. God is in the sanitized hands of the grocery clerk, in the smile of the pharmacist beneath the mask, in the waves from neighbors out for yet another walk. These things are not new. Before the pandemic, grocery clerks sanitized their hands, pharmacists smiled and neighbors waved. Yet, now we understand these things as ways in which God is moving, ways that we are lifted up, even just a little. These things are reminders that God is still present. 

Despite all the changes, God is still here. The Holy Spirit is still moving. And Jesus is still accompanying each and every one of us through the trials and tribulations of this world. You are not in this alone. Everything is changing, but God is still here to cling to, to grieve with us, to worry with us and to question the future with us. And that is something that even COVID-19 cannot take away.

– Christina Johnson